Confirmed: Paul Mills to Wichita State

[Otis 83]

3 hours ago, ORU40 said:

I was at a BBQ yesterday and joking about this with a former ORU baseball player from the 80's,

If they wanted to get the baseball team from the 80's to the new study room in the Carter center, they would have had to name it "The Bull & Bear"

Holy Cow that place is still open!  Unfortunately The Italian Inn isn't.  

[MrsSmith]

EVERY athletic program has hits and misses on their hires.  I believe most all of us wanted Russ to get promoted and we all really wanted him to succeed.  He is such a wonderful man. For whatever reason it didn't work out.  Now ADTJ and PBW go back to the drawing board and hope for better results. 

I'm not sure what the future looks like with our limited donor base.  It's a bidding war out there!  Can we convince great players to come to ORU with our unique culture?

[theeagleman5]

Gonna take a miracle, Mrs. Smith... 

[eagle88]

3 hours ago, MrsSmith said:

EVERY athletic program has hits and misses on their hires.  I believe most all of us wanted Russ to get promoted and we all really wanted him to succeed.  He is such a wonderful man. For whatever reason it didn't work out.  Now ADTJ and PBW go back to the drawing board and hope for better results. 

I'm not sure what the future looks like with our limited donor base.  It's a bidding war out there!  Can we convince great players to come to ORU with our unique culture?

Coach Springmann is indeed a truly genuine and wonderful person and it would have been ideal for him to have succeeded. I absolutely believe ORU can hire a good coach and recruit good players. The biggest obstacle to this might be how quickly PBW adjusts to the current state of affairs in college athletics. From what I have heard  he is not in favor of paying a head coach more than he makes. If this is true then we are dealing with outdated and antiquated thinking. I have not been privy to the budgets and financial matters of the university but if basketball is to remain the face of the university and make money for it then PBW , the board and powers to be will have to make it a high priority to come up with more money.  I often hear the statement that we are a Christian University and we don’t have much money. To an extent that is true in comparison to other bigger universities but with open minds and a willingness to change we can at the very least be competitive in our coaches and players pay. The bottom line is a successful basketball team makes ORU $ like nothing else at the university and gives us national exposure. Now is the time to step up our game and get the job done.

[ORU82]

If we are that bad financially, then why did we build the Carter Center, build the track complex, build new tennis courts, the golf practice facility, upgrade the Mabee and seriously upgrade the baseball stadium?  Why did we spend resources on buildings when there is no real commitment to properly fund our programs?  So you understand, I have supported and do support these upgrades both literally and figuratively, but what I asked is a fair question.  As eagle88 just pointed out, is the current administration prepared to upgrade the support for athletics?  Further, if PBW truly does not think we should pay a coach more than what he (PBW) makes, then the Board of Trustees needs to ask itself a serious question, that being at what level, if any, should the University participate in collegiate sports?  All of the facilities listed above were paid through donations.  Why were we as donors asked to give money to something the University apparently never really had a commitment to fund?  I am not asking for funding like Ohio State throws at their sports programs, but paying a head basketball coach between $250,000 and $350,000 per year is in the basement of D-I athletic programs.  The basement for MAC head basketball coaches begins somewhere north of $600,000 and goes into the $1+MM dollar range.  Even in the Summit we are paying at the basement level.  Gee, is that why we have finished dead last in the Summit these last two years?

[Bogus Smith]

Before this denigrates into a discussion about people's compensation and who is to be paid what and who can make more than another, let's understand that many institutions of higher education have the president's salary as the highest paid and is comparable to ORU's compensation levels from top to bottom.  Case in point is South Dakota State, where the president is paid more than the football coach, basketball coaches and/or any other employee in their institution based on public records.  This isn't an edict based on PBW, ADTJ, or any other individual within the institution, so we need to be a little more pensive as we discuss this matter.

How has SDSU been able to hold on to their coaches even though they are so "lowly" paid?  I have to believe it comes to culture and collegiality among the school community.  Do we need some of that at ORU?  I think ORU has a lot of "community" due to the mission of the university. There are some long-term relationships among the faculty, staff, and alums in the city that make ORU unique.

God has blessed us with many good things - including good coaches and favor in getting to post-season competition in many of our sports programs with a shrewd stewardship of our resources.  We need to expect that God isn't done with us yet and we still have some great years ahead of us with the right coaches and players that want to come and play at a University that puts God first.

[Otis 83]

Pokes up 40-35. Close em out

[Old Titan]

Just watched the end of Wichita’s 10-point loss in Stillwater, and was once again reminded of this paradox:  is there ANY coach - past or present - WORSE in “the handshake line” than Paul Mills?

I mean, for real:  ANYONE??

[Dr. Cornelius]

9 hours ago, Old Titan said:

Just watched the end of Wichita’s 10-point loss in Stillwater, and was once again reminded of this paradox:  is there ANY coach - past or present - WORSE in “the handshake line” than Paul Mills?

I mean, for real:  ANYONE??

Juwan Howard

[Otis 83]

I guess Grandma was only interested in an overnight visit. Such a shame. 

[Otis 83]

16 hours ago, Old Titan said:

Just watched the end of Wichita’s 10-point loss in Stillwater, and was once again reminded of this paradox:  is there ANY coach - past or present - WORSE in “the handshake line” than Paul Mills?

I mean, for real:  ANYONE??

I just watched it since you commented.  I assume you are referring to the appearance of him barely looking the OSU coach in the eye as he walked by without even slowing his pace.  Why is Coach Mills so prickly?  He has the joy of the Lord in his heart.

[ORU82]

As for institutions where the HC (in many sports) never is paid more than the institution's president, I am not sure what you are looking at but where I live this simply is not true.  HCs in both football and basketball have salaries far in excess of what the president is paid.  This is true not only in the B-10, but also in the SEC, B-12 (WVU/UC), ACC (Pitt/UL//UVa/VaTech), Big East, CAA, CUSA, MAC, SunBelt, and others.

[Otis 83]

7 minutes ago, ORU82 said:

As for institutions where the HC (in many sports) never is paid more than the institution's president, I am not sure what you are looking at but where I live this simply is not true.  HCs in both football and basketball have salaries far in excess of what the president is paid.  This is true not only in the B-10, but also in the SEC, B-12 (WVU/UC), ACC (Pitt/UL//UVa/VaTech), Big East, CAA, CUSA, MAC, SunBelt, and others.

I reviewed a few form 900s for fun.  Here are my results.  Happy to add other institutions.

This is 2023 data.  Interestingly, in 2023 GCU was still paying Dan Majerle $1,000,000.

[Dave Connor]

19 hours ago, Old Titan said:

Just watched the end of Wichita’s 10-point loss in Stillwater, and was once again reminded of this paradox:  is there ANY coach - past or present - WORSE in “the handshake line” than Paul Mills?

I mean, for real:  ANYONE??

Let' take a positive look: Win or lose, Michigan State's Tom Izzo is a model for how to interact with the opposing coaches and players during the "handshaking line".

[ORU40]

3 hours ago, ORU82 said:

As for institutions where the HC (in many sports) never is paid more than the institution's president, I am not sure what you are looking at but where I live this simply is not true.  HCs in both football and basketball have salaries far in excess of what the president is paid.  This is true not only in the B-10, but also in the SEC, B-12 (WVU/UC), ACC (Pitt/UL//UVa/VaTech), Big East, CAA, CUSA, MAC, SunBelt, and others.

Someone needs to break it PBW or the board of trustees, an NCAA tourney coach provides more value to the university than the university president does! 

[Bogus Smith]

8 minutes ago, ORU40 said:

Someone needs to break it PBW or the board of trustees, an NCAA tourney coach provides more value to the university than the university president does! 

SP, I hate to break it to you but I think that the university administration realizes that a NCAA tourney drive provides more value than ANY person on campus does.  They saw that first hand with applications and admissions for the school year 2021-22 jumping exponentially.  As with public education, more money doesn't get you better outcomes.  Let's all please keep away from the individual attacks of anyone specifically.

[titansforever]

So, Wichita State wants $1M more for NIL.

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - In a letter to fans, Wichita State University Athletic Director Keven Saal addressed the men’s basketball program and what it will take from a fundraising standpoint to keep pace with schools that were national contenders this year. Boiled down, Saal said the program’s “current 2025/26 NIL/Revenue Share allocation needs an additional $1 million to elevate overall roster talent/depth and compete at the national level of excellence we’ve all come to expect.”

[Bogus Smith]

39 minutes ago, titansforever said:

So, Wichita State wants $1M more for NIL.

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - In a letter to fans, Wichita State University Athletic Director Keven Saal addressed the men’s basketball program and what it will take from a fundraising standpoint to keep pace with schools that were national contenders this year. Boiled down, Saal said the program’s “current 2025/26 NIL/Revenue Share allocation needs an additional $1 million to elevate overall roster talent/depth and compete at the national level of excellence we’ve all come to expect.”

I hate to tell all those Wichita State fans, but it's going to take a whole lot more than $1 million to augment their talent levels.  They already have $800K+ for their NIL on men's basketball.  They probably need $2 million to be a top-tier AAC team and $4-$5 million to be competitive on the national stage level.  Totally my conjecture, but $1 million is only to stay at their current level (IMHO).